Nick Cannon adopts healthy diet after kidney scare

Entertainer who suffered from mild kidney failure earlier this year is forced to embrace 'simple foods.'

For Nick Cannon, the days of "Lucky Charms" for breakfast may be a thing of the past.

The 31-year-old rapper, actor and husband of Mariah Carey is recovering after a frightening case of kidney failure earlier this month that forced him to cut short a family vacation and spend hospital time in Colorado and Los Angeles.

"I'm feeling good, I'm in the office, I'm grinding — the only thing that sucks is that I'm on the renal diet," Cannon told MTV News. "It's all about healthy living and fueling your system, but I don't get to eat the things that I like to eat. You've got to stay hydrated and [eat] fruits and vegetables for breakfast."

According to the American Association of Kidney Patients, the renal diet can mean limiting potassium, protein, fluid, salt (sodium), saturated fats and phosphorus. Cannon, who says he generally enjoyed a breakfast of Lucky Charms every morning, says it's now all about simple foods, like oats.

"Not even the good oatmeal," he told the site. "Real oats, like horse-feed stuff — but it's cool. I've got to start to love it."

Cannon is happy that at least hot sauce is still on menu, saying that he'll add it to nearly everything to help with the potential lack of flavor. "I can still have Tabasco sauce, so I'm excited about that because I love hot sauce," he says. "I'll be putting Tabasco sauce on carrots, like, 'This tastes delicious!'"

The "America's Got Talent" host says that while he considered himself in great shape before, physical looks were deceiving when it came to what was happening inside his body. "You look at my Twitter picture and I look like I'm in shape, but I was putting the wrong stuff into my body, speeding all the time, not sleeping and eating properly — it's all about taking time and really caring about yourself and how you fuel yourself," he said.